Sav gets more municipal police

The enforcement of municipal laws and efforts towards greater traffic management in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, have been boosted, with six additional municipal police officers trained and deployed to the town.

The deployment brings to 15 the number of municipal officers serving in the Westmoreland capital. The officers were sworn in Friday and commenced official duties in the town on Monday.

Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, Councillor Bertel Moore, introduced the new officers to the Westmoreland Parish Council at a meeting held last week in the council chambers.

Public order

Moore said after the meeting that the municipal police officers are a "critical and essential" part of the local government process and would play a key role in streng-thening the maintenance of public order and augmenting revenue collection across the parish.

"We need these municipal police officers in Savanna-la-Mar and other areas of the parish of Westmoreland to, among other things, help alleviate the growing traffic congestion in the town of Savanna-la-Mar, Grange Hill, Negril and other areas. This will help us to beef up the effectiveness of the new parking-metering system within Savanna-la-Mar. The system is presently impacting positively on traffic management and their presence will only make it more effective," he stated.

He said the officers would also assist in the supervision and enforcement of the building and construction regulations across the parish.

"When we look around the parish, we observe several buildings going up and no building plans for them have been received by the council, and this is one of the main areas from which the council makes its money. Too many buildings are being constructed without the necessary plans.

Earthquake

"Recently, it was revealed that most of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake in Haiti were constructed without steel. We have to ensure that this does not happen in Savanna-la-Mar, any area of Westmoreland, or any part of Jamaica," Moore stated.

The six municipal police personnel were among 28 new officers, who recently graduated from a five-week training course at the Jamaica Police Academy in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

The course covered some 25 topics focusing on police techniques; court procedures; statement writing; local government laws and regulations; and operations of councils.